Sophie Calle: Did You See Me?

by Christine Macel, Yve-Alain Bois, Olivier Rolin

This comprehensive retrospective of Sophie Calle not only celebrates the breadth of her iconoclastic work but also leads to a deeper understanding of her unique artistic vision. The work of conceptual artist Sophie Calle embraces numerous media: photography, storytelling, film, and memoir, to name a few. Often controversial, Calle's projects explore issues of voyeurism, intimacy, and identity as she secretly investigates, reconstructs and documents the lives of strangers - whether she is inviting them to sleep in her bed, trailing them through a hotel, or following them through the city. Taking on multiple roles - detective, documentarian, behavioral scientist and diarist - Calle turns the interplay between life and art on its head. The book presents Calle's best-known works, including "The Blind," "No Sex Last Night," "The Hotel," "The Address Book" and "A Woman Vanishes," as well as lesser known and earlier projects that have largely escaped the public eye. The book also includes diary excerpts and video stills, along with three critical essays, a revealing interview with the artist and a dialogue with fellow artist Damien Hirst.

Genres: Art, Photography, Nonfiction, Art Design

444 pages, Hardcover

First published February 5, 2004

Reviews

[Neely Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Actually, many nights right before i fall asleep i read or re-read one of her projects many of which are her life and interactions with strangers. I am always inspired, amazed and delighted with her work. some of my favorites in this book are: "the birthday ceremony" in which from 1980-1993 she invites to dinner the exact number of people corresponding to the age she is turning plus one person brings a mystery guest-and she doesn't use the gifts ever received but puts them together in a gallery in 1993. another fav is the project in which a man in california writes to her very depressed so she ships to him her bed, pillows and sheets from france to recover in. Everything is perfectly documented and well put together in this book. oh sophie, you crazy!

[ania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adore this. Has the magic of a Wes Anderson film.

A beautiful retrospective of a performance artist's work.

There's one piece at the end where she asks people in the art world to describe various paintings missing from a gallery. Reading through the remarks on Rembrandt's "Portrait of a Couple in an Interior", you find out there was originally a child in the painting -- who was then painted over. Love that sort of thing: the hidden dimension.

Reminds me of this NYT bit on Stephen Colbert:
"He said that when he began doing his location pieces for 'The Daily Show,' the ones that evolved into 'The Colbert Report,' he found great satisfaction in the craft of them. 'I thought of it as making these little Chinese boxes, with intricate inlay,' he said. 'I loved that. It's like an artist known for his sculptures all made with found objects glued together with human bodily fluid, and then he'd photograph them, and the photographs would be burned and the ashes would be turned into a painting. But did you know he also made neat little wooden boxes?'"

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

i found this book on a trip to Paris... such and unusual self portrait of writing and photos. There is no clear way to explain this book other than to read it.
At one point in the book she spends the night in a bed at the top of the Eiffel Tower...strangers take turn at her bedside telling maximum length 5 minute stories...hundreds turn up...you'll have to read it for yourself to find out the rest.

[Sophie L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Put this book up there with the Keat's Places book I read two years ago in terms of books that have changed my perspective. Seeing how Sophie Calle views the world, and then opts to change her view depending on when she tires of the rules she set, was fascinating and eye opening. The push and pull of how Calle exercises control in order to cede control was deftly captured through the parts of her exhibits that were represented in the book. It was a masterful sampling of her work. This is another one of those books that I'm going to think about for a long time and one whose influence will be immediately present moving forward.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only beautiful to read, but is also an exceptional object; well printed, bound and laid out with a fine and carefully selected finesse. It documents Sophie Calle's career via a retrospective in the early 2000s, and offers an insight into the work and thought process of the artist. Features colour pictures of all of her work, with descriptions and introductory texts from the retrospective's curator and the gallery director -both well written and insightful. Wonderful.

[Dolleminne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I accidently stole this book from the library.
It is one of my most favourite art books. Sophie Calles work is very fun and playful and it is so nice to have this collection of personal works in one book, I use it just to sometimes take a fast look into it and feel like a spy or get some inspiration.

[Yasmin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book for me to research for my project!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book; love her work.

[Francine Fang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork collections before 2003.

[The Art Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sophie Calle changed all this, changed me. She was performance art, video, photography. This was my sophomore year of college. I was taking a photography class as an elective. I sat down those first weeks and the professor, Julia Paull, was trying to explain conceptual art to mostly non-art majors....What stuck with me, nineteen-year-old Paul Pescador, was how these simple stories conveyed narratives of personal experience and relationships. Art was now this, and not that."
--Paul Pescador on "Sophie Calle: Do You See Me?"

Read the full review here:
http://theartbookreview.org/2013/12/1...

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's really expensive. but what do you make of a collection of museum visual-art exhibitions compressed into a tactile book of evidence? i guess that explains the price. Sophie Calle is one warped artist. linked/referenced to Jean Baudrillard (pop-culture-theorist / socio-commentator / etc) and inspired-inspired-by Paul Auster (author of New York Trilogy, Leviathan, Invention of Solitude). it's quite the coffee-table book of her explorations. I will recommend browsing it at the library before buying it if you really adore her work. i quite do :)

[Jojo Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully designed book that is a compendium of all her work to date.

[Joetta]

I love Sophie! Thorough overview and introduction to all her works up to now.
Excerpts from each piece included.

[Sophiaalmaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chromatic diet is genioos.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fantastic companion to Calle's work

[Gyewon · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a cute fort/da game!

[James Moes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, the joys of spending hours at the Seattle Central Library. Oh, the joys of being a documented performance artist. Beautiful book.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and beautiful.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Sophie Calle's work. This was a nice collection of bits and pieces of her shows and ideas, which left me wanting to see the full collections!

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow